


Cinnamon, Caramel, and Chocolate

by SirMuffinsworth



Category: Dangan Ronpa - All Media Types, New Dangan Ronpa V3: Everyone's New Semester of Killing, Super Dangan Ronpa 2
Genre: F/M, Fluff, I just thought these two deserved a valentine's fic okay, Its kinda bad but oh well, Romantic Fluff, Self-Indulgent, Ultimate Talent Development Plan (Dangan Ronpa), Valentine's Day Fluff
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-15
Updated: 2021-02-15
Packaged: 2021-03-16 05:42:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,598
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29448726
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SirMuffinsworth/pseuds/SirMuffinsworth
Summary: Yeah, this one's probably not up to par with the other stuff I've written. Oh well, I wanted a self-indulgent valentine's day amacha fic, and I didn't see anybody else posting one, so three hours later, here we are.
Relationships: Amami Rantaro/Chabashira Tenko, Hinata Hajime/Koizumi Mahiru (mentioned)
Comments: 10
Kudos: 25
Collections: :D





	Cinnamon, Caramel, and Chocolate

To be fair, Rantaro wasn’t really sure what he had been expecting.

It still kinda sucked though.

The adventurer sighed as he made his way to the desk in the back of the room, setting his bag down and slouching a little more than usual. He was still jetlagged from his flight home from Greece that morning, which had arrived at around 2 am standard Japan time. He hadn’t slept in about fifteen hours, and it was 8 in the morning on a godforsaken school day. 

Not only that, it was Valentine’s day.

Nobody at school had known he would be returning today. He usually just came and went, heading off at the drop of a hat whenever a new lead on one of his sisters came up. So far, the leads had all come up dry, but he wasn’t gonna just stop trying. As such, it probably shouldn’t have come as a surprise that his desk was vacant of any valentine’s day gifts. 

But still.

Freaking Kokichi had a few boxes on his desk. Rantaro had nothing.

Rantaro forced the pangs in his heart down as his classmates began to file in. He had been the first to arrive, having not had sleep to overdo ahead of time, but clearly many of his Hope’s Peak schoolmates had awoken early that day to plant some sugary delights for the apples of their eyes.

“Oh, Rantaro!” Kaede waved to him as she entered, “You’re back! How was Greece?”

“Greece was nice,” he smiled back at her, “The Parthenon was really something. I’ll show you some photos later, if you want.”

The pianist nodded, “Sounds good! You look tired, are you alright?”

“I’m dying. I need caffeine and/or sugar, and I need it desperately. I’ll be fine, though.”

Kaede giggled behind her hand, “It looks like you’ve already eaten your fair share. Really, how quickly did you mow through all the stuff that would have been on your desk in order to be done by the time we---”

The pianist trailed off as she noticed Rantaro’s sad expression.

“Oh.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he waved a hand and smiled lightly, “Nobody knew I was gonna be here, I wasn’t expecting anything anyways. Anyway, it looks like you and I have opposite problems.”

Kaede nodded slowly, turning to face the somewhat daunting mountain of chocolate boxes that was threatening to topple over and crush somebody, situated over her desk.

“Not that I’m not flattered,” the pianist sighed, “But this is just excessive.”

“The whole class seemingly wanted to express their gratitude to you for being our representative,” Kirumi smiled as she entered, nodding curtly to Rantaro, “I confess, I was the last one in to deliver my own. It’s at the top, which is a blessing, given that Gonta’s at the bottom appears to have seen better days.”

“Damn, ‘Tardo,” Miu cackled from the other side of the room, “Didn’t think you’d have so little game. Here I had you pegged for the swinger type. Heh. Pegged.”

“There’s no need for that, Miu,” Angie clapped her hands, “Atua loves you Rantaro, even if maybe nobody else does.”

Rantaro wasn’t too sure how to take that, but he offered a cheap chuckle, which seemed to saitisfy the artist.

“I overheard you mention photographs,” Korekiyo said, “I don’t suppose I would be able to join you to view them? Greek history has always fascinated me.”

“No problem,” Rantaro nodded, “Mahiru from class 77 has been teaching me to use a camera while I’m here, I picked up a few tricks from her. She’ll probably want to check on my progress, actually, heh.”

“That aside…” Shuichi leaned in to Rantaro, pushing his chair back, “Any, uh… luck with the, you know… thing nobody except me knows about?”

“Afraid not. Just another dead end.”

Shuichi nodded sadly, patting Rantaro on the shoulder before turning to join a conversation between Himiko and Gonta.

The typical class banter continued for about twenty more minutes as every member of class 79 slowly walked in, inspecting the romantic prizes awaiting them on their desks. Rantaro raised an eyebrow at Maki when she opened a card from her desk and immediately went a similar color to her uniform, but the caregiver put away the card into her shirt pocket wordlessly. Overall, Kaede seemed to have the most gifts upon her table, forcing Gonta to help her lift them all off to actually access her desk. Somehow, (Rantaro aside), it seemed like Ryoma had the least, but the tennis player seemed content with the respectful note from Kirumi and the bag of candy hearts from Gonta that he had received.

Ten minutes after class was meant to begin, class 79’s homeroom teacher finally slid the door open, staggering in on clearly inebriated feet. 

“Alright, y’all. Take ‘em seats,” Kizakura slurred, stabilizing himself on the podium as he slapped the attendance book down onto it.

Rantaro rolled his eyes as his classmates filed to their assigned desks. Kizakura was a habitual drinker at the best of times, sure, but it was eight in the morning, for crying out loud. He supposed that he could forgive it today, however, as their teacher was a mid-fourties man without a girlfriend on Valentine’s day. If this was how bad he was in the morning, however, Rantaro was glad he didn’t have plans to go pubbing later that night, lest he run into the guy.

After Kizakura finished roll call, he launched into a monotone, slurry lecture about Shakespeare or whatever, which Rantaro quickly tuned out. He had hoped beyond hope that attending classes today despite Hope’s Peak’s nonmandate on them would keep him awake, but Kizakura was testing that notion. 

About midway through the torture, Rantaro’s attention was finally caught by something strange. A certain aikido master across the room was surveying him with a look he wasn’t used to receiving from her. It wasn’t a look of disdain, nor disgust, but… was that sympathy? He glanced up to meet Tenko’s gaze, but she immediately averted her eyes, neck snapping to attention at the front of the room. Rantaro just shrugged and went back to catnapping.

After an hour of humdrum, hiccups, and Hamlet, Kizakura finally bid the class goodbye and sauntered out of the room, digging a metal flask that probably shouldn’t have been allowed on school grounds out of his coat pocket. 

“Sooooo, Rantaro!” Kokichi’s voice woke the adventurer up, “What gives? I know you say that you aren’t a player or anything like that, but are you seriously this bad with romance? You know, if you don’t have anybody else, I could find some room in my big ol’ heart for you…”

“Won’t be necessary, Kokichi,” Rantaro sighed, picking up his bag, “I’m perfectly fine with people.”

“The state of your desk says otherwise,” Tsumugi giggled, “Serves you right, normie. No harem for you.”

“Nyeh, Moogie! That’s uncalled for!” Himiko whined, “Just ‘cuz he’s bad with the dudes doesn’t mean you can talk down to him like that.”

Kirumi blinked, “Oh, I didn’t realize that was your preference, Rantaro.”

“It isn’t, last time I checked,” the adventurer shook his head, giving the magician a strange look.

“Oh…” Himiko looked taken aback, “Then you really need to fix your vibe… nyeh…”

“Whatever,” Rantaro was exasperated, “I’m gonna head back to my dorm.”

“Already?” Kaito asked, “Weren’t you gonna show off some pictures?”

“I’ll bring them later, I just need to unpack some stuff,” the adventurer lied. In reality, he just really didn’t want to be there anymore. Before anyone else could question him, he quickly made his way out of the classroom, hoping to high heaven he didn’t fall asleep on his feet between here and his dorm room bed.

~~~~~~~~~~~~

A few beats of silence passed throughout class 79’s room as Rantaro made his obviously hasty exit. The boy could put on a calm exterior, he did it with the best of them, but something struck Tenko as off about how he had been acting. Rantaro was usually much more genuine than he was being that day, it was almost like the boy had been putting up a front. Not that anybody else seemed to have noticed.

“UGH!” she cried, drawing everyone’s eyes suddenly, “DAMN that… MALE!”

“Which one, and what did they do this time,” Maki asked in a deadpan.

“Rantaro!” Tenko cried, “How dare he make me feel sorry for him! Ugh, I must be coming down with something!”

“So you noticed it too, huh,” Shuichi shook his head.

“Yeah, so totally obvious!” Miu cackled, “But for the sake of the rest of these idiots… mind explaining?”

“Why didn’t anybody leave him anything?” Tenko stood, “I mean sure, he’s a male, but he’s not as bad as some of you here, yet he gets nothing for Valentine’s day! What gives?”

Ryoma shrugged, “Nobody knew he was gonna be back today. Why would we leave something if there was a chance it was just gonna collect dust for weeks?”

“And would you have left something for him had we known he would be here?”

Ryoma didn’t have an answer for that.

“If I had known of his arrival, I would have written him a card or something of the like,” Kirumi bowed her head, “Though it is strange to see you getting in such a fuss about him, Tenko. Kaede, I would expect something like this from, but you?”

Tenko flushed, “D-don’t get any wrong ideas! I just… well, I empathize with him is all! That’s it! Nothing more!”

Kokichi split into a wide smile as he eyed the akido master, but he said nothing.

“I do feel a little bad,” Keebo murmured, “But, I mean, I’m sure he’ll be fine, right? Rantaro isn’t an unattractive man, I’m sure he does fine for himself romantically, out in his travels.”

Tenko noticed Shuichi’s eye twitch at that.

“Something to say, male?” she asked, “Spit it out!”

“A-alright!” the detective flinched, “I won’t get too into it, it’s kind of a secret, but Rantaro doesn’t just travel for pleasure. He’s on something of a mission, and he doesn’t make time for anything else, least of all foreign flings.”

Miu cracked up, “Oh man, out of all of you, Rantardo was the one I assumed wouldn’t be that pathetic, but I guess he’s just as much a virgin as the rest of ya!”

“Well Tenko, since you brought it up,” Kaede said, “What do you propose we do about it?”

Tenko blanched, “M-me? I don’t care about that male! He can go drown in a river for all I care!”

Inwardly, Tenko cursed herself. Too quick, that response was too quick. Be better.

“...uh-huh,” Maki said with narrow eyes.

“How’s this?” Korekiyo suggested, “Now that we know he’s here, what if we just deliver what we would have normally placed on his desk directly to him in his dorm? That’s where he said he was going, after all.”

“Perfect!” Kaede smiled, “I’ll tell his friends in the other classes he’s here. He’ll be so happy!”

With that, the pianist skipped out of the classroom, Tenko quickly standing to follow her.

“I-I’ll come too!” she said, before slapping a hand over her own mouth.

“WHAT AM I DOING!?” she thought, “Why am I going out of my own way to make that… MALE happy!? What’s wrong with me!? He’s a man! It’s not like I have feelings for him or anything, why am I trying to make Valentine’s day special for him!? I only have eyes for Himiko! Sure, Rantaro can be nice, and sure, his eyelashes are pretty, and sure, he’s a really good listener, and sure, he doesn’t disparage me for my views, and sure, maybe he’s got a not-so-disgusting body, and… oh god help me.”

“Coming, Tenko?” Kaede asked from the doorway, looking at her expectantly.

“Y-yes!” she replied, shaking her head in an attempt to banish the traitorous thoughts away.

“He… he’s a friend,” she thought resolutely, “That’s all he is! He’s better than the rest of the man around here, I’ll allow him that, but he’s still a man! We’re friends, that’s all this is! Nothing else!”

Yeah, she wasn’t even fooling herself.

~~~~~~~~~

THREE MONTHS PRIOR

Tenko grumbled as she made her way out of the Hope’s Peak dojo, dusting off her clothing and ignoring the stinging sensations all over her body.

“Whoa, Tenko!” a male voice called from across the hall, “You look like you just got hit by a bus! What happened?”

Rantaro approached, a look of concern plastered on his face as he surveyed her many bruises.

“Not that it’s any of your business,” she huffed, “But I was teaching Nekomaru from class 77 a lesson about decency.”

The adventurer blinked, “Did it… work? No offense, but your usual methods of correction are pretty violent, and from what I know about the guy, he’d probably just take that as an encouraging challenge.”

Tenko sighed. In truth, she hadn’t actually been able to move the burly team manager in her attempts, but she wasn’t about to tell Rantaro that.

“What’s your point?” she asked, “And what do you want from me, male? My time is precious, you know.”

“I’m just wondering if you’re hurt,” the boy smiled, “I mean, those shiners speak for themselves. Don’t you think you should head over to Mikan?”

“Oh, I wouldn’t want to bother her with something like this. She’s always dealing with all thr roughhousing you violent boys get up to anyways.”

Rantaro laughed, “Glass houses, Tenko. Well, if you’re sure you’re alright, I’ll get out of your hair.”

Tenko nodded curtly, turning to leave. She made it about five limping steps before the fatigue she had been bottling up broke loose, and she fell.

She awoke in the nurse’s office, with a familiar flop of green hair peering down at her.

“Hey, welcome back to the land of the living.”

Tenko’s eyes went wide, her arm instinctively going up to sock the boy in the mouth. He caught it, however, and set it back down on the sheets gently.

“How did I get here?” she asked, glancng around.

“I carried you,” he offered simply, “You kinda fainted on me out there. You overdid it against Nekomaru, clearly.”

Tenko shrank back in horror, realizing that she had likely been paraded through the school like a child by the boy, unconscious in his arms. Her arm whipped up again, grabbing a fistful of his shirt and pulling him close.

“WHO SAW!?” she demanded.

“Hey, cool it down! I mean you no harm!” Rantaro replied, holding his palms up in surrender, “The only people who saw me carrying you were Sakura and Hina from class 78, Fuyuhiko and Peko from class 77, and Miss Yukizome! Oh, well, and Mikan, since I was carrying you here.”

Tenko sighed in relief. It was still shameful that she had been seen by so many, but at least Himiko hadn’t witnessed her disgrace. Still though.

“You degenerate! You know what happens when I let men touch me! My power gets sapped! You should have gotten one of the girls to carry me, or better yet, just gone to get Mikan and left me there!”

Rantaro blinked, “I’m sorry, you would have preferred I leave you unconscious and alone in a hallway? And besides, speaking as the current victim of your ‘power’, you seem just as scary as you usually are!”

Tenko’s response died in her throat. The boy, somehow, was right. She didn’t actually feel any weaker. Strange. She released him, and he smoothed out his shirt.

“Anyway, Mikan isn’t here because she apparently had to go deal with something down at the 77th homeroom. She just told me to tell you to get a lot of bedrest, you’ll feel better in a few hours.”

“How long have you been watching me for?”

“I haven’t just been watching you, Tenko, I’m not a creep. I’ve been browsing the internet and… let’s call it ‘waiting for you to wake up’ for about a half hour.”

Tenko sighed, shaking her head and turning away from him pointedly.

“You know…” the adventurer said softly, “You’ve gotten angry at Nekomaru and some of the other guys about their conduct before, but I don’t recall you ever challenging any of them to a duel over it. Was there something especially egregious about this offense, or…”

“What are you implying?” she huffed.

The adventurer gave her a soft look before replying, “I’m sorry if this is kinda overstepping, here, but… is everything alright with you, Tenko? You didn’t show up to class at all yesterday, and now you hurt yourself trying to prove a point you’ve already made clear hundreds of times. What’s up?”

The aikido master didn’t respond immediately, and even she had to admit the “None of your business” she gave him was meager at best.

“If you say so,” the boy sighed, “But I can tell something’s troubling you. You have the same look some of my sisters used to get whenever they didn’t get their way.”

Tenko perked up, “Sisters? You have sisters?”

“Yup,” Rantaro nodded, “Twelve of ‘em, actually, all younger. My parents have some strange ideologies, don’t ask.”

Tenko just blinked at him in surprise, inspecting the wistful look he got on his face as he mentioned these sisters of his.

“It’s my master,” she sighed, surprising herself somewhat, “I had a rather infuriating conversation with Shuichi yesterday that made me realize something about him.”

“That being?”

“That he’s… a man.”

Rantaro eyes her curiously, “Was that… difficult to discern?”

“Not really… I had just never thought about it before. It’s weird to think about. Like, I don’t know how to feel about it at all.”

“Well, do you value the lessons he’s taught you as your master?”

Tenko perked up, “Of course I do! His lessons are brilliant!”

“And does his sex change anything about that? Make you value them any less?”

“I… guess not, no.”

“And what about him as a person? Does this new… realization change any aspects of his personality greatly?”

“Not that I’ve seen, but it’s not like he just recently started being a man… what haven’t I noticed? What have I been blind to?”

Rantaro shook his head, “Tenko, you’ve been blind to the nature of what’s between his legs, nothing more. Him being a man doesn’t change anything. I know we fundamentally disagree on this point, but if you want my opinion, neither your gender nor your sex really change anything about you. It’s the personality in front of those things that counts, and based on how much you valued your master up until this point, it’s clear he’s a pretty good person.”

The aikido master blinked at him before humming in consideration.

“I suppose it’s a point… worth considering, at least,” she finally relented, “...Thanks. Now begone, I require my beauty sleep. You remember Mikan’s orders!”

“Right, right,” Rantaro chuckled, “Your phone’s on the table. Text me if you need anything.”

The adventurer left, leaving Tenko alone in the nurse’s office with a lot to consider.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PRESENT

“Oh, Rantaro’s back from Greece?” Mahiru asked, “I’ll go say hi later, I’d like to see how his photos are coming.”

“Indeed,” Peko nodded, “I also wish to see his photos, but for different reasons. He always brings back photos of animals to show me and I… quite enjoy them.”

“Great!” Kaede said, “You two can come with us, then. Rantaro was kinda down in the dumps this morning, and we were thinking of getting people together to surprise him!”

“Down in the dumps?” Mahiru asked, “How so?”

“He, um…” Tenko looked down, “Well… he didn’t get anything for Valentine’s day, and he looked… disappointed…”

The two upperclasswomen blinked at her, surprised.

“Nothing?” Peko asked, “That’s unexpected. Everyone in our class received at least something this morning, even Nagito, and Rantaro is far more amiable than him.”

“Is he not very well-liked?” Mahiru asked, “I always got an okay impression of him, for a guy…”

“T-that’s not it!” Tenko blurted out, “I just--- I mean, we were just not expecting him to come back today!”

Tenko was saved from Mahiru’s questioning glance by Kaede, who tugged at her arm, “Let’s get down to class 78’s homeroom. Rantaro’s close with Celeste and Byakuya in there, right?”

“I’ll… catch up,” Tenko replied, waving the pianist off, “I would actually like a word in private with Mahiru, if that’s okay.”

Kaede shrugged, taking off down the hallway. Peko bid the two girls adieu before heading off towards the dojo herself.

“What is it, Tenko?” Mahiru asked, curious.

“Uhm…” the aikido master stammered, “B-before I ask… don’t judge me, o-okay?”

“...Sure?”

“Well… um… you know that reserve course boy you’re, you know, going out with?”

The photographer nodded, “Yeah, Hajime. What about him?”

“W-well… how did that… happen? How did it start, I mean?”

Mahiru smiled, “Well, he’s pretty dense, but I love him for it. I asked him out and he said yes, and the rest is history.”

Tenko nodded slowly, “And the, uh… asking out bit. How did you… do that?”

Mahiru chuckled, “Tenko, I hate to be the one to break it to you, but Hajime and me were in a different position than how you and Himiko are right now. Hajime had no idea I felt for him, whereas Himiko is painfully aware of your---”

“It’s…” Tenko cut her off, praying that her bangs hid her blush as she examined her feet, “It’s not… Himiko…”

Mahiru’s eyes widened, “Oh! Well in that case, if you don’t mind my asking, who’s the lucky girl who’s caught your eye?”

Tenko’s face felt like it was boiling as she whispered, “It’s not… well… it’s… Rantaro…”

Mahiru’s jaw fell slack as she took a single step back in shock.

“No way,” she said.

“I know!” Tenko whined, “It’s so shameful! I can’t figure out what kind of evil curse must have been laid on me to make me feel this way! Maybe I should go confront Gundham, he might know a thing or two…”

“No, Tenko, this is actually exciting!” Mahiru giggled, “Rantaro, huh? I admit, you could do worse. Why him, though?”

Tenko could only shrug in response. Her ears still felt like they were blowing steam with all the heat in them.

“In that case…” the photographer smiled, “Here’s what we’ll do…”

~~~~~~~~~~~

Rantaro was awoken to the sound of a loud pounding at his door. He grumbled, pulling a shirt on and rubbing the sleep from his eyes, before creaking it open.

“Surprise!” came Kaede’s voice. His eyes took a second to adjust to the light streaming in from outside, but he eventually recognized those assembled to his door to be Kaede, Tenko, Korekiyo, Kirumi, Peko, and Mahiru.

“Hey guys,” he glanced from face to face curiously, “What’s up?”

“Since we didn’t know you were arriving today, we didn’t get a chance to leave you Valentine’s arrangements,” Kirumi explained, “Some of us are here to rectify that, and I believe there are some here who wish to see the photographs you took on your travels, if you wouldn’t mind combining the two events.”

Rantaro blinked at her, “N-no, no problem at all. I’ll grab the USB out of the bag…”

As the group slowly pushed through into his dorm room, they stopped to admire the decor somewhat. Aside from his bed, which was tousled from having just been used, Rantaro preferred to keep a clean house. He also wasn’t exactly hurting for cash, so despite having rather conservative tastes in interior design, some things inevitably wound up being a little… out there.

“Is that… native american?” Mahiru asked, pointing to a fur wall hanging that hung over his bed.

Rantaro shook his head, “Nah, that’s Mesopotamian. Good guess, though.”

Korekiyo nodded his approval as he admired a shelf of old bottles made from ceramic, formerly used for alcohol and carved to look like geishas.

“Where should we put these?” Kaede asked, holding up a small bag of chocolates.

Rantaro’s eyes widened as his heart warmed slightly, “Oh, just on the desk is fine. Now where did I put that USB… ah, here we go.”

Rantaro pulled out a red USB drive that he had compiled all of his photos onto, plugging it into his laptop and pulling up the slideshow. He intentionally refrained from looking at his desk, as he knew the contents there would consume his attention once he did. His friends slowly gathered around him to admire the shots.

The photos themselves were an assortment of random landscape shots from different views, and the occasional animal that had been captured as part of an arrangement with Peko, who took time to admire each and every photo. Rantaro didn’t think they were all too special, but he realized his perspective must be jaded due to seeing things like this all the time.

“You’re getting better with the settings,” Mahiru remarked, “Some of these look like photos I would have taken.”

“High praise coming from you,” he smiled, “Thanks a lot.”

Rantaro couldn’t help but laugh as Tenko’s brow scrunched up at a photo of the sculpture of Dionysus in the Parthenon. The aikido master huffed and turned away pointedly, “Somehow, I fail to see how something so vulgar qualifies as ‘art’ or ‘history’.”

Slowly, Rantaro worked through his entire gallery, answering the occasional query from Korekiyo, Kaede, or Kirumi, and appreciating the remarks on his camera work by Mahiru and Peko. Slowly, he began to notice Tenko inching ever so closer to him, when she had originally started off a foot away on the bed. Fifty photos in, she was halfway to him. Another twenty-five, her hand was brushing up against his. The adventurer couldn’t help but blush as she leaned in closer to admire a picture of the sunset over Athens, which pressed her shoulder up against his own. 

After all, he wasn’t without feelings for the graceful aikido master, as much as he suspected she would murder him for admitting that.

“That’s the last one,” he said, closing his laptop slowly.

“A lovely collection, my friend,” Korekiyo nodded, “I must admit, I envy you. To be given the opportunity to ovserve so many different cultures at such proximity…”

“Yeah, it’s cool!” Kaede pumped her fists enthusiastically.

Kirumi nodded curtly.

“Yes, thank you once again for indulging us,” Peko said, “We should be getting out of your way now, I imagine you are still tired.”

Rantaro’s reply of “no, it’s fine” was interrupted halfway out of his mouth by Mahiru standing abruptly and saying, “I agree! Everybody out!”

There were a couple of cries of confusion as the photographer pushed everybody except Tenko out of the room, who followed along almost meekly behind the bunch. The door slowly closed behind the group, and Rantaro was alone in his dorm again.

“What on earth was that about?” he murmured, setting the USB back down in the bag, “Oh well, I guess.”

Now that he was by himself, Rantaro tried not to be too eager to see what awaited him on his desk. He wasn’t usually one for sweets too much, but with the faint disappointment from that morning still bitter on his tongue, he was excited to replace it. The first item was a small bag of chocolates, storebought but nice, labeled as from Kaede. Rantaro remembered similar bags on everyone’s desks, so he assumed this was just her fulfilling her duty as class rep. Still kind of her, though.

The next two items were a little more personal, leaving a smile on his face. The first was a curt but genuine letter from Kirumi, expressing her thanks to him for his friendship and camaraderie. The second was a small cupcake wrapped in foil, seemingly courtesy of Mahiru, with a note that read “Go get ‘em” and a small doodle of a tiger. He wasn’t immediately sure what that meant.

The final item, and by far the largest, both amazed and confused him. It was a large heart-shaped box, done up in intricate lacy bows. He couldn’t see a card attached, so he gently undid the bow and lifted the top off. A distinct aroma of cinnamon, caramel, and chocolate enveloped his dorm room as the box revealed a dozen homemade (and actually still warm) tarts. An experimental bite told him that they were, in fact, delicious. 

As he set the lid down, he noticed a small note attached to the underside of it. It was unsigned, and he couldn’t place the handwriting, but the words gave him a good deal of excitement.

\----

Rantaro,

Writing this is agony. This is attempt number three. I’m not good at this.

I’m waiting for you outside. We need to talk.

I like you.

\----

The adventurer swallowed, turning to look at the door. Someone was waiting for him outside? Was it one of the people who had been in here with him, having delivered it themselves? Maybe someone else, who had gotten one of the others to deliver it as a proxy? He wasn’t sure.

He was pretty sure who he hoped it was, though.

Slowly, his heart beating in anticipation he turned the knob and creaked the door open to find…

Nobody standing there.

A practical joke, then. Of course it was.

He sighed, shaking his head ruefully. He shouldn’t have been surprised. There was no way she would have been waiting there. Kokichi probably bribed Kaede or Kirumi to deliver that when they came in.

As Rantaro was about to close the door again, he heard Mahiru’s voice from around the corner.

“What are you doing? You’re supposed to be over there!”

He blinked. Was she talking to him?

“I know! I know! I just… I’m nervous, alright? I’m never gonna live this down!”

The adventurer froze. That was Tenko’s voice.

“You’re only going to have to live this down if he says no!” Mahiru replied.

“Even if he says yes! Confessing to a MALE like this… UGH! What am I even doing here!?”

“Tenko, he’s gonna come out any second. You better decide now if you like the guy or not. Imagine how crushed he’s gonna be if he opens that door and nobody’s there!”

Rantaro heard Tenko hesitate for a second, before groaning, “Fine! I’ll go! Just… stay here in case I… can’t, okay?”

“Sure thing, girl.”

Tenko came walking around the corner, adjusting her hair bow nervously as her cheeks flushed red.

Rantaro couldn’t help but smile as she froze, seeing him already waiting for her out on the promenade.

“Rantaro…” she murmured.

“So, uh…” The adventurer chuckled, “I kinda heard all of that. You can come out, Mahiru.”

Sighing, the photographer emerged as well, pushing Tenko forwards a bit.

“Alright,” the redhead said, “Out with it, Tenko. Tell the boy what you wanna tell him.”

“O-okay…” the aikido master was uncharacteristically bashful, only meeting Rantaro’s gaze from under her hanging bangs as her head tilted downwards, “Rantaro… this is really embarrassing… I’m not really sure how to do this… um… I’m not sure if I can…”

“Well, as adorable as that is,” Rantaro said, “I’m not gonna make you if you’re having a hard time. How about I go first?”

Tenko just nodded slowly.

“You wanna go get dinner tonight? I know a great place around Niashiahara.”

Tenko’s eyes widened at how bluntly Rantaro put it, but her face broke out in a smile.

“Y-yes! I mean… yeah, I’d… like that, Rantaro.”

“And it’s not a problem that I’m a guy?”

Her blush could only be described as adorable as she replied, “...no. Not if it’s you.”

Mahiru clapped lightly, “There, you two, was that so hard?”

“Yes!” Tenko spun on her indignantly, prompting laughs from both the photographer and Rantaro.

“Well, I’ll leave you two to it,” The redhead waved, walking away with a smirk on her face. Tenko slowly turned back to Rantaro, who tentatively placed a hand on her shoulder. She didn’t resist.

“Just so we’re clear,” he said, “This is real, right? Not some… I dunno, dare-induced prank on both you and me orchestrated by a certain Panta-drinking gremlin?”

“No,” she shook her head, “This is real. I… I like you, Rantaro.”

“Fantastic. I like you too, Tenko.”

The faces of both aikido master and adventurer broke out into gleeful smiles as Tenko took the hand on her shoulder in her own, fingers entwining gently.

“And I’m not draining any of your power?” he asked.

“No,” she shook her head, “If anything… I feel stronger, actually. That’s… an exciting thing to realize.”

“For me, too. By the way, did you bake those tarts yourself, or did you have help?”

Tenko blushed, “W-well, Kirumi helped out a bit… but I did most of it. I hope they were alright. I noticed you didn’t get anything this morning and… well, I---”

“They were delicious, Tenko. Actually, I have something for you, too, if you want it.”

Tenko perked up, “Oh? What is it?”

Rantaro’s hand slowly guided her chin upwards towards his own, his eyes meeting hers as he leaned forwards. He waited long enough for Tenko to realize what was going on, and to back out if she chose to. He was delighted that she didn’t.

Even as the taste of cinnamon, caramel, and chocolate was fresh on his palette, Rantaro couldn’t help but think that her lips were the sweetest things he had tasted in a long while.

**Author's Note:**

> Yeah, this one's probably not up to par with the other stuff I've written. Oh well, I wanted a self-indulgent valentine's day amacha fic, and I didn't see anybody else posting one, so three hours later, here we are.


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